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5 Questions & Actions To Help You Live From Your Heart ( EXPERT)

Are you lonely...even though you are in a relationship? Learn 5 ways to open your heart and connect.

Are you sitting home with your partner, night after night, feeling lonelier than if you actually lived alone? Do you long for the past when you and your honey were so connected you couldn’t wait to be with each other and share every detail of your day? Are you pulling your hair out trying to remember how and when the disconnection began?

Here’s a hint – disconnect happens when you start living from your head instead of your heart. It’s easy to slip into this scenario – he says something that hurts your feelings and suddenly you don’t feel so free to share your inner thoughts. The wall goes up – what if I say this and he thinks that? I better just keep those feelings and thoughts under wraps lest I’m judged, criticized, rejected or thought stupid…and slowly the disconnect begins and you become a talking head.The best life however is one that’s lived in joy and gratitude, and the best way to experience those feelings is to be heart-centered.

Toughening up after heartbreak, vowing to stay strong to protect ourselves from future hurt, a current relationship that is disappointing, unfulfilling, and un-luscious can all prevent us from living in a happy and healthy loving state.

So how can you identify when you’re out of balance or living in a closed off and protective state, absent of juicy joy?

Here are five questions to ask yourself:

1. Do I love myself?
2. Am I able to forgive myself for past wrongs?
3. Am I able to forgive past hurts from others?
4. Do I blame myself for all that is wrong in my life?
5. Do I blame others for what is wrong in my life?

If you answer yes to any of these questions, then it’s time to shower yourself with some extra TLC. To start with, use the following affirmations in your daily health regimen:

As you practice these affirmations daily, you’ll begin to feel your desire for more love in your life. You may notice that you feel more loving toward yourself and others.

Here are five actions to incorporate into your daily life to continue to expand your heart center:

1. Sing. Sing in the shower. Sing in the car. Sing as you clean house or go about daily chores. Sing with your favorite singer or group or sing solo. Let it rip! Allow yourself to sing out loud and sing out strong—you’ll feel your heart expand as you do. I bet you’ll even notice a great big smile on your face. Now, how awesome is that!

2. Play with a child or pet. Both children and animals live in the present moment. A child’s laughter is contagious. An animal’s unconditional love is healing. Both children and animals remind us to lighten up and not take everything so seriously. They also show us that it is possible to let go of past hurts and move on. So, go play, have fun and lighten up!

Roger Sterling

Don Draper

"Oh, you mean love. You mean the big lightning bolt to the heart where you can't eat and you can't work and you just run off and get married and make babies. The reason you haven't felt it is because it doesn't exist. What you call love was invented by guys like me to sell nylons. You're born alone and you die alone and this world just drops a bunch of rules on top of you to make you forget those facts. But I never forget. I'm living like there's no tomorrow, because there isn't one."

Pete Campbell

Roger Sterling

Don Draper

"Nostalgia -- it's delicate, but potent. Teddy told me that in Greek, 'nostalgia' literally means 'the pain from an old wound'. It's a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone. This device isn't a spaceship, it's a time machine. It goes backwards, and forwards... it takes us to a place where we ache to go again. It's not called the wheel, it's called the carousel. It let's us travel the way a child travels -- around and around, and back home again, to a place where we know are loved."

Henry Francis

Roger Sterling

"Don't you love the chase? Sometimes it doesn't work out, those are the stakes. But when it does work out, it's like having that first cigarette: Head gets all dizzy, your heart pounds, knees go weak."